Words
by spikeyhairgood
Summary: After Clary and Jace send an email that could possibly change their lives, they soon find out that they've been hired as a writing team for a new, promising TV show. They've written together since they were pre-teens, but is this job going to make them see that being best friends isn't quite what they thought it was? AU, AH.
1. Deadlines

**Summary:** After Clary and Jace send an email that could possibly change their lives, they soon find out that they've been hired as a writing team for a new, promising TV show. They've written together since they were pre-teens, but is this job going to make them see that being best friends isn't quite what they thought it was? AU, AH.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters, just the story that I've placed them in.

* * *

Jace threw the gray door open and closed his eyes once he heard it slam behind him, breathing in the air that hit him once he'd stepped out. He didn't see her face when he made his announcement, but it didn't stop him from imagining what her reaction could have been. He was quitting the show that they had built together. The show that their years of effort as writers had brought them to.

Jace heard the door slam against the brick wall when she threw it open.

"Jace!" she screamed, and he could hear her frustration and sadness.

He turned around and took a deep breath as he prepared himself to have a conversation with Clary that he never imagined they'd _need_ to have. But there they were, standing only a few feet from one another, and Jace couldn't remember a time when she had felt so far away.

* * *

**_Two years and three months earlier_**

All Jace could hear was the incessant tapping of Clary's fingernails against the wooden table. He didn't look past his laptop, but he could feel her gaze on him. He knew she was watching him like a hawk, with slightly narrowed eyes. He could feel her piercing green eyes burning a hole through his laptop screen.

"Stop it," Jace whispered.

"Stop what?" she asked, trying to sound innocent, but he could hear the edge in her voice.

"Staring. I know you're staring," Jace responded, annoyance laced in his tone.

He heard her sit up. He knew she crossed her arms. "I'm not even looking at you."

"You might be staring at my laptop, but I know you are rushing me in your mind."

"Oh, you're a mind reader now?" she asked instantly. Jace took a deep breath. Fighting wasn't going to help the situation.

"I will not answer that," Jace said, clearing his throat.

A few minutes passed between them.

"What am I thinking?" Clary broke the silence.

Finally, Jace pushed his laptop aside and caught her smirking. "Clarissa! Stop bothering me. I can't finish with you breathing down my neck about this and I can't—"

"I'm across the table."

Jace breathed out of his nose and could see Clary fighting the urge to smile.

"I'm serious. Leave me alone. You want me to finish? I need to concentrate!"

Clary's palms met the table as she slammed her hands down. "I asked you to finish this days ago! But of course, here we are, too close to the deadline! We are _late_ in emailing this in—"

"Just because it doesn't meet _your_ deadline doesn't mean it's late!" Jace yelled back.

Clary narrowed her eyes. "It's late," she repeated. "Now finish, because—"

"Clarissa!" Jace moved his laptop in front of his face again. "Will you calm down? I'm almost done. Just give me fifteen minutes, and then you can edit this, and we can send it, alright? Now be quiet, please. I need to _concentrate_."

Jace didn't move until he heard Clary huff. He was a little scared that she was going to throw herself across the table and strangle him. He heard her lean back into her seat, and his laptop jiggled when she rested her legs against the side of the table. He rolled his eyes, knowing she did that on purpose. He took a deep breath, then groaned when he heard her clear her throat.

"I'll wait until you're done writing and we send it, but after, I am going to punch you in the throat for telling me to _calm down_ and _be quiet _and to _relax_—"

"I did _not_ say relax," he said defensively.

"It was implied!"

"Fine. I'll take the throat punch, just—"

"Don't you dare shush me."

Jace's shoulders slumped. "Clary, please."

"Fine, but just know that, whenever you see a duck, I will be telling _you_ to calm down and be quiet while you're screaming your head off—"

Jace moved his laptop. "Is this really the time to poke fun at my fear? It's not like it's all birds, it's just—"

Clary put a finger in the air. "Please, Jace. We have a deadline."

Jace put his laptop in front of him, roughly. "You are the most infuriating—"

"Shhh."

Jace groaned and shook his head, regaining his concentration. "Okay," he whispered, and then his fingers began to type away.

"Okay, are we ready?" Clary asked. The two stood over her laptop and stared at the email. It was formatted, with an attachment. They had triple checked the email and edited the piece that they were sending in more than a dozen times. They both read over the email to ensure that it sounded professional.

Jace glanced at the email one more time. "I think we are."

Clary took a shaky breath, and he put his hand on her shoulder.

"This is it, Clary, and we've done our best," he assured her. "I think it's good enough to be sent."

"It's just...this is our future, our dream, what we've been working for since we—"

"I know," Jace interrupted, smiling down at her when she looked up at him. "I was there with you. That's how I know we've done our best to get this perfect."

Clary gave a nod and looked at the screen. "Should I?"

"Yes, do the honors," Jace assured her.

With a deep breath and a swift click, the email was sent. The two sighed in relief as they sent what they had been working on for months.

Jace grabbed Clary by her shoulders and turned her around to face him, pulling her into a hug. She looked up so she could breathe and laughed at how he shook her from left to right.

"I think that was it, Adele," he said, grinning.

She rolled her eyes and hugged him back. "Don't call me that, Christopher."

* * *

**A/N: **I've had this chapter written for the past month, and I'm relieved to finally have it up and posted. **As a note, t****his whole story will be in Jace's POV.**

**Let me know what you guys think of this story so far! Leave some reviews and feedback, please :)**

**To my DLF loves,** I know I haven't updated the story in a couple weeks, almost two now, and my updating has been awful for the story, but I've got to admit I've been having writer's block with DLF. I've pushed past it for many chapters by talking through it, but this time around, I think to give it a few more days and this is why I chose to put up this story. Since I feel bad every time I don't update for weeks, I thought maybe switching it up with Words would help. I'm still completely invested in DLF, please know that. But I just need to take a couple more days before I can write for it. I never wanna give you guys a chapter that isn't good enough, and that I didn't invest in because I had to force it. I hope you enjoy this first chapter of Words in the mean time :)

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings** for beta'ing and for being so excited about this with me. Thaank you, CH Clary. Shout out to **DeathCabForMari** for conversing about this story with me. Shout out to **IWriteNaked** for being our Ash &amp; always making us laugh.


	2. Just Best Friends

**A/N:** Helloo! Okay, this is not a DLF update (obviously, lol) but it has done the job of getting me back into the writing. So, I hope you like this chapter. Important A/N regarding a partner story for this. Mhm, a partner story.

The song used in this chapter is **Running by James Bay**.

* * *

Jace furrowed his eyebrows as he flipped through the channels. He tilted his head back on the suede red couch that he and Clary had in their LA studio apartment. He hated it until the movers placed in their living room and he saw that it immediately complimented the dark brown wooden floors. Clary smirked in accomplishment, knowing she was right. Now, it was a staple to their apartment, and used constantly.

It was where they wrote, where they slept when they were too tired to make it to their rooms, and where they watched an endless amount of movies and tv shows.

He heard the familiar squeak of Clary's bedroom door opening. The music she was playing spilled out like a flood and reverberated in the living room and kitchen area. It was only Monday, but Jace knew which album she was going to be repeating that week. Clary had a different album or group that she listened to. It changed weekly, mostly, but it could also make its way into the various albums or songs that she played constantly. This week, it was James Bay's EP, _Let It Go_. And, along with Clary, Jace would listen. He would learn the lyrics, the music, and sing it on his own time, everywhere he went. Jace listened to whatever Clary listened to since they met. She was his only way to find out music. And, the moment they were hired on the show, after being excited for the new chapter of their lives, Clary became determined to befriend whoever was in charge of the music on the show. It was heaven for Clary to get new albums weekly. A dream come true for her.

"Clary, look at this show. Look how—" Jace started and began to look over his right shoulder.

"Don't!" Clary yelled out. "Do not turn around."

Jace rolled his eyes. When he first looked at an inopportune time, Clary was in her underwear, running to the bathroom. Only he wasn't the only one looking. Three of the guys in his workshop group for a class at NYU were there with him. That was years ago, when they first moved into their apartment in New York City. So, as the years passed, Jace had grown tired of her running around in her underwear and then yelling at him as if it was _his_ fault that she was taking the risk of sprinting half naked.

_When my heart is ready to burst_

_When the world spins in reverse_

_I'll keep running_

_To the place where I belong_

Jace leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. It was Clary's favorite song on the record, so she played it over and over the whole morning.

_When you go, turn down the light_

_No one's here to hold you in the night_

_I'll keep running_

_To the place where I belong_

"Okay," Clary said, and Jace turned to face her as she stepped out of the bathroom. She was pulling her hair up into a messy bun. "You heading out?"

"Yup," Jace said, with a pop at the end. He pointed the remote at the TV, turning it off, and let it fall out of his hands onto the couch. It bounced off and fell to the floor. Jace's eyebrows went up in guilty surprise, and he looked up to see Clary roll her eyes. She stepped into her room, stopped the music, and walked out with her purse and the CD, holding it out to Jace.

"I figured you'd wanna borrow it."

"You know me so well." He grinned, taking it from her fingers.

"Better than yourself."

"Well, I can't deny that," Jace said, grabbing his wallet and car keys from the kitchen island. He switched off the light and locked the door, turning to find Clary waiting for him at the top of the staircase, texting someone. "Where you heading?" The two walked down the steps, Jace holding onto Clary's elbow to guide her as she kept her attention on her phone.

"Izzy," Clary told him, stuffing her phone back into her purse. "We're meeting at the coffee shop and then doing some shopping. She's nervous."

"You aren't?"

"Um, that's why I agreed to join her," Clary said, walking before Jace towards their cars, which were parked beside each other.

"It'll do great," Jace reassured her. He bit his lip and she turned, catching him. "Alright, so I'm nervous too."

"Where are _you_ going?" Clary asked, raising an eyebrow. Jace knew that the eyebrow suggested that he was going to meet up with Kaelie so he could "forget about the stress."

"Meeting up with Simon," Jace said, and Clary looked surprised. "He's nervous too. So having a beer or two it is."

"Right," Clary said, opening her door. "Well, be—"

"Careful." Jace gave a nod. "I will."

"See you tonight." Clary got into her car. "You bringing anyone?"

"Just Simon. You?"

"Isabelle," Clary said, then shrugged. "Maybe Dylan."

"I'm sure he wants to watch the reason why you don't have time for him," Jace said, and Clary shook her head, but smiled while she did it. "I'll grab a couple of six packs on the way home."

"Sounds good."

Clary rolled down her window. It may have been a nice Autumn day for LA, but the September weather reminded them of summer nights back in Connecticut, and he knew Clary missed being home. Clary turned the key, and the engine roared the car into life.

"I need to check out your car soon," Jace said, making a face at Clary's car.

"I know," Clary sulked. "Whenever you do, tell me what you need and I'll buy it." Jace nodded. "Call me, okay? If the nervousness catches up with you."

"Will do," Jace replied. "Or maybe I'll hit up Kaelie."

Clary grinned. "Ew."

Jace laughed. "I'll call you. Do the same. And be home by—"

"Seven. I know. I wanna be settled in with our nerves before it starts too," Clary said, and stepped on the brake, putting her car into reverse. "See you, Wayland."

"Later, Fray." Jace put his hand in the air as he opened his car door, and Clary drove away, her music blasting from her car. Jace turned his car on, simultaneously putting on the CD and rolling down his window. He reached for his sunglasses and put them on, driving away.

* * *

Simon groaned, his forehead touching the bar.

"Lift your head up. The bar is probably filthy," Jace said, and Simon lifted his head up slowly.

Jace passed him a napkin and Simon rolled his eyes, wiping his forehead. "I don't know if I've ever invested _this_ much into a role."

"The Brooklyn boy in you wants it to be perfect," Jace told him.

"The Jew in me doesn't know why I'm playing an Italian," Simon muttered, and Jace smirked. The two looked down at their beers. Simon glanced at a quiet Jace. "I know you and Clary have invested just as much into this."

Jace looked at him and took a swig of his beer. "Yeah. It leads up to this."

"You guys did amazing," Simon reassured him.

"So did you and Isabelle." Simon gave a nod. "Plus, the pilot made you cool as hell. Girls walked in there looking at you like you were just a good looking nerd with glasses, but, when they left, it was like they wanted you to beat their brothers with a bat."

Simon smiled and gave Jace a weird look once he mentioned the bat. "Thanks?"

"I'm just saying that not only will this change my and Clary's lives, it'll change yours and Isabelle's. These roles are great for you. A good change from your usual 'guy best friend' role and a twist on Isabelle's usual 'hottest girl in school' role." Jace slapped Simon on the back. "It'll be great."

Simon nodded and then had some of his beer, almost drinking it halfway through. "Where did you come up with this, anyway? You and Clary. Were you in the mafia?"

"Clary is in the Irish mafia." Simon stared at Jace. "Just kidding."

"I'd believe you if you weren't," Simon said, and Jace smiled.

Jace shrugged. "Clary always loved mafia movies, for some reason. She started the initial idea of how he was secretly in the mafia. I came up with the back story—the best friends part." Jace looked at Simon. "She does the plot and imagery. I do the dialogue. It's how we've always done it."

"And you're sure that you two haven't dated or had feelings for each other?" Simon asked. It was probably the third time he had asked since Jace met him a year ago after he got the part.

"No, Simon," Jace responded as if he had been asked this a million times. Because he _had_ been asked about a million times. Maybe two. "Just best friends."

When Clary and Jace arrived in LA a month after they got the job, everyone thought they were a writing team that was together. They had to explain it over and over that they were just best friends. Just best friends who met in fourth grade. Just best friends who first started writing stories together in fifth grade. They wrote through middle school, high school, and college together—a university that Clary dreamed of going to and got accepted to, and a university that made Jace pass up all other acceptances he got, Berkeley and Princeton included, so he could stay with her. He never let her know this, but he knew that he wouldn't have been able to get through school without Clary. They did everything together. How was he supposed to be okay if they went to different schools?

"How _did_ you meet?" Simon asked, interrupting Jace's thoughts.

"You really wanna know?" Jace asked, raising an eyebrow.

Simon shrugged. "Yeah, it's taking my mind off the nervousness. So please, paint me a picture." Simon leaned back into his bar stool and smiled goofily.

"This is weird. I don't know where to start," Jace mumbled after a few seconds.

"Well, how did you become best friends?" Simon asked, giving him somewhere to start.

"When I moved." Simon inclined his head, as if to ask for more. "I moved to Connecticut with my mom and her new husband Stephen. We lived in New York City before that, but my dad never had time for us, so..." Jace trailed off, and Simon's eyes asked for more. "He worked on Wall Street."

"The Clary part, Jace. The Clary part."

"She hated me."

Simon leaned forward, interested.

Jace looked down into his beer bottle. "I moved there in fourth grade, and she was quiet. Best writer in the class. Annoyingly so." Jace smirked. "Until I came around, and she hated me for it. It was what she was good at, and she never had competition on who was the best in it, so." Jace shrugged.

"So, what did you do, since she hated you?"

"What every nine-year-old boy would do. Annoy her," Jace said with a shrug. "I sat with her every day. She didn't have many friends, but I had a feeling that it was because she didn't want them anyway."

"How obnoxious of you."

"She was the only one I liked in that school. It was some elitist school, for these ultra competitive kids. I mean, we were _kids_." Jace shook his head a little. "Anyway, I sat with her every day at lunch. And requested to sit with her in class." Jace grinned. "And asked to do my writing assignments along with her." He chuckled. "It was great. She hated me so much."

Simon took a deep breath and looked away. "Poor Clary."

Jace began to pick at his beer bottle's cover. "But I knew it was also because she knew we connected. She knew it the same way I did, and she hated that the connection was with me."

"Because you were so obnoxious?"

"No. Because I was popular." Jace leaned back. "My mom put me in all these sports programs, and I looked like a version of all this"—Jace pointed at himself— "so, I mean, I was popular."

Simon ignored Jace's ego. "Did you hate her too?"

Jace looked down. "No." He gave a laugh. "She was the only one in that school I _wanted_ to be friends with. She's the only one I tried for. Ever."

"Why?"

"I don't know. There was a pull towards her."

"I thought you two didn't like each other," Simon pointed out.

"I didn't like her," Jace said, making a face at Simon. "I felt a pull towards her, I don't know, in life. Or something like that." He paused. "Like she was my soulmate."

"But—"

"Soulmates don't need to be romantic to be soulmates."

Simon nodded, understanding this. He put his elbows on the bar, then looked up at the television broadcasting an afternoon TV show. Jace looked away, feeling the relief that Simon seemed to be done with the topic. Jace always ended up getting annoyed trying to explain the connection he and Clary had. He always had trouble making them understand that it wasn't romantic. He looked up, watching along with Simon, ignoring the annoyance altogether.

* * *

Simon and Jace looked over their shoulders at the front door when they heard the it unlock.

Clary poked her head in, and Jace narrowed his eyes. "I said seven, not—"

"I know; I'm late," Clary interrupted Jace. "But this one took too long," Clary added, opening the door wide, and Isabelle waved, Dylan on the other side.

Dylan put a hand in the air. "I did nothing to make us late," he defended himself.

Jace stared at Dylan for a moment as he awkwardly smiled at him. He liked Dylan. He got along with Dylan. He was the only one of Clary's boyfriends that he ever liked. It wasn't that he was jealous of them—either the guy hated him because he and Clary were so close, or Jace didn't trust him, and he was too overprotective to let Clary date a mediocre guy. Clary and Dylan had only been dating for half a year, but Jace approved of him, and he saw that they maybe they could last. Dylan was laid back, and not overbearing. He was hilarious, and easy to get along with. Dylan was _cool_. Almost as cool as Clary was. And Jace could picture Dylan in their future.

"Dylan deserves a beer. Dylan, come," Jace said, holding up the beer, and Dylan walked in, sticking out his tongue at the two girls.

Clary walked inside, pulling Isabelle in with her. "Next week, we will bring the food and the beer, okay?" Clary threw her keys on the table, along with her purse, and Isabelle did the same.

Dylan was already sitting beside Jace, right in the middle of the couch, facing the TV. Clary plopped down beside Dylan, and Jace handed her a beer. Isabelle sat beside Simon, who sat on the loveseat. She pulled out her phone and held it out to take a picture of them. She looked down and began typing away. "Are you live tweeting too?" Isabelle asked Simon as he looked down at her phone.

He reached for his phone on the coffee table. "'Course."

"Alright, I'm ready for this," Dylan stated. Clary and Jace looked at him; he was sitting in the middle of them. "What?" They looked at each other. "Oh, god. This show is gonna ruin my life, isn't it?"

Jace turned from Dylan and faced him again, holding up a big lime green bowl. "Chips?"

* * *

**A/N: **Did you guys like it? Let me know if you did! **Please leave some reviews &amp; inspiration :)**

I know that Clace is very much just friends in this so far, and for most of the story, but just know this is in the POV of Jace. So what he sees/thinks, is what you will be reading in the chapters.

**Okay, so the partner story. **I came up with an intriguing plot for the TV show and I was a bit upset that it wasn't going to be completely written out. I didn't want the TV show to take too much of the focus since this whole thing is Jace's POV. Sooo, I decided to write a whole different story for it. It will be a Simon and Isabelle story, since they are starring in the TV shows, and their names will be different. **Simon's name will be Carter. I'm honestly not sure about Isabelle yet.** Their names will be what they are in the TV show. So basically, whenever the episode comes out in Words, a chapter will come out for the TV show story. It will be like you're watching the episode that airs in the Words chapters. I hope that makes sense. I can't explain it articulately, lol. Anyway, I hope you guys are as excited as I am by this partner story going on. Oh, and the TV show/story name will be titled **Brooklyn Carter**.

**My DLF loves**, I'm finally feeling up to writing. So I will be working on the Brooklyn Carter chapter, since it has to be posted pretty close to whenever these chapters are posted, then I'm going to work on DLF. Hopefully it will be posted this week! I'll really be trying to. **Also, DYLAN. Yes, this is _that_ Dylan.** I brought him here. I had to utilize him somewhere, so here he is.

* * *

**Thank you to anyone who reviewed, favorited and alerted the first chapter!** It really meant so much to me, and it helped in motivating me to just jump back into writing. Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, WeAreDustAndShadows &amp; Cheyashton**! I hope you guys enjoy this and continue to like where it is heading :)

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings**! You are amazing. Seriously. An amazing beta and even more amazing friend. Thank you so much for the support, always.


	3. J&C

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of Cassandra Clare's characters or any real shows mentioned in this story. I just own wonderful Dylan, Brooklyn Carter &amp; the story that I've placed these beloved characters in.

**A/N &amp; shout out's at the bottom!**

* * *

"You're so good!" Dylan yelled, holding Simon's face between his hands. "I want to kiss you."

Simon was smiling so wide his eyes disappeared behind his glasses. "Please don't."

Jace, who was in the middle of this male human tower, pushed Dylan and Simon's faces together.

After the episode ended and the credits rolled with "Brooklyn, Go Hard" playing, Dylan and Jace got up and jumped on Simon. Isabelle ran off the couch just in time and sat beside Clary, who took a picture.

She posted it immediately on social media, captioning it _#BrooklynCarter_.

"You're so scary," Dylan said, touching Simon's face.

"Ew." Isabelle cringed, but was still smiling in amusement.

"I know; you're so cold blooded." Jace followed this comment by pushing himself out of the pile, causing Dylan to crash down into Simon.

Simon pushed Dylan off and adjusted his glasses. Dylan fell on the floor with a thud that made Simon flinch.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"It's all good." Dylan stood up, pulling down his shirt. "It's an honor to be injured by you." He plopped down next to Clary on the couch, his arm resting behind her neck.

Simon rolled his eyes, but couldn't stop smiling.

"And Izzy," Dylan said, looking over Clary, "I'm in love with you already."

"Yeah, you're perfect and broken," Clary added, and Isabelle grinned.

"Thank you!" Isabelle responded, and Jace looked at Dylan.

"Is that a compliment? To be perfect and broken?" Jace asked. Dylan shrugged.

"You're perfect and broken," Simon interjected, and Jace snapped his head up to look at him.

Jace wiggled his eyebrows at him. "Yeah?" Simon rolled his eyes.

"We should go out." Dylan brought his palms down to slap his legs.

"Can't," Clary mumbled, looking up at him. "Work in the morning."

"And Jace got into a fight at the bar last night," Simon added.

Dylan looked at Jace, who shrugged. "Really? We have to find another bar?"

"Give it a few days," Jace said, waving a hand, dismissing the concern. "And it wasn't me who punched anyone. Someone over here did." He pointed directly at Clary.

"Excuse me for trying to have your back," Clary retorted, crossing her arms.

"Whatever. You enjoyed doing it," Isabelle pointed out.

"Yeah, Clary." Jace raised his eyebrows at her. "Don't blame me for your addiction to violence."

"I don't know what time we get out of our table read, but—" Clary stopped talking when she saw the expression on Dylan's face. It was a bit scrunched in, and he was squinting. "Oh, yeah. You're going on location."

"Ooo!" Isabelle pulled her feet up so she was sitting Indian style. "Where you guys filming this time?"

Dylan grinned. "Russia!"

The four made noises of approval and clapped their hands.

"So cool. We haven't done out of the country filming," Simon remarked. Jace and Clary raised their eyebrows at him. "I love our show!"

"One episode airs and you believe you should only be filming in Russia," Jace muttered, and Simon sighed.

"I just mean that I wish we were a traveling show. We make sets." He looked to Isabelle. "Except when we film in New York."

"Or Vancouver!" she pointed out.

"Yeah, but it isn't Russia, so it isn't good enough for Simon," Clary mumbled under her breath, and Simon sighed loudly again.

"I'd love to see you guys continue to badger Simon, but I've got a trip to cold Russia that I haven't packed for, so..." Dylan stood up.

"And you suggested we go to the bar." Isabelle tsked and got up to give him a hug.

"I know, I know. Procrastination at its finest," Dylan replied, shaking hands with both Simon and Jace. "See you later, Actors. Screenwriters. Good luck with the table reads and filming this week."

"Later, Script Supervisor." Jace waved at Dylan, who waved back as he stood behind Clary while she opened the front door. "Don't get frostbite."

"Get us something Russian!" Isabelle yelled right before the door closed, the two on the other side of it. She sighed longingly. "I love them."

"They make a lot of sense," Simon added.

"Mhm," Jace said, looking up from the plastic cap he was playing with in his hand. "They do."

Jace could still remember clearly the day that Dylan and Clary met.

_The entire cast of Brooklyn Carter—the writers, producers, and the director—went to Entertainment Weekly Screen Actor's Guild Awards party—and so did the entire team of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which Dylan was a part of._

_Jace was the one who dragged Clary to talk to some of the writers for SHIELD because he was interested in the Marvel show. He badgered the female writers for answers, which of course he had gotten from them, while Dylan and Clary stood awkwardly to the side._

_Dylan broke their silence by telling Clary, "Good luck in the fall. That's when your show airs, right?"_

_Clary looked at him steadily. She replied, with complete sass, "You too. You're gonna need it."_

_Dylan was taken aback by the redhead, but it only compelled him to keep talking to her for the rest of the night. This included following her back to their car until she agreed that they could get coffee._

_Jace opened the car door for Clary as she huffed and told Dylan, "You're extremely persistent. It's weird. I kind of feel like I should report you somewhere. Like Tumblr."_

_Dylan laughed. "I'll find that post and say it was worth it."_

_"Gross," Jace mumbled, waiting for Clary to get into the car._

_Clary sighed. "Coffee. 8 AM. We have a production meeting, and I'm sure you do too." Dylan gave a laugh and nodded. "Ed's Coffee Shop." She pointed her thumb back at Jace. "He'll be watching in a corner."_

_Dylan made eye contact with Jace, and, in return, Jace raised his right eyebrow._

_"Sounds good," Dylan said with a smile, stepping back onto the sidewalk. "Bye, Clary."_

_"Bye, Weird Dylan," Clary told him, but smiled before she disappeared into the car._

_"Bye, Weird Dylan," Jace repeated, ducking to get in after her._

They didn't start "dating" until three months later, but Dylan seemed to fit right in with the group once he got the title of boyfriend—even though it was a title that Dylan and Clary usually didn't use for each other.

Jace looked up when Clary walked through the door.

"Did ya two smooch enough for the next couple of days?" Simon asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Isabelle made a face at him, and Jace looked at him with disgust.

"Shush. Why don't you book a ticket to Russia and join SHIELD?" Clary retorted, sitting on the couch.

Simon slouched into the couch as Isabelle put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

"Savage," Jace commented, shaking his head at Clary. She jumped on the couch, grabbing a pillow to hug, and the four sat there with the common realization that their show just premiered.

Simon and Clary glanced at each other and started grinning. Isabelle and Jace made eye contact and both inclined their heads towards one another.

"You were both incredible." Clary broke the silence. "I hope you guys know that."

Simon looked up from staring at their coffee table. "Thank you for choosing us."

It was so secret around set that Jace and Clary had a lot of say in what happened in the show. It was more than a normal pair of writers would have a say in. They weren't only writers on the show, but also part of the team of _creators_. It was their idea, their vision for the show that made it what it was. It was their ability to paint a clear picture that united the whole cast, crew, and everyone involved. They were the heart of the show, and it showed in every aspect, whether it was music, costume, or cinematography. They were spearheading the show by getting everyone just as invested as they were.

Clary looked to her left at Jace, the majority of her face hiding behind the pillow that she hugged against her chest. He knew the smile she was using behind it—the closed-mouthed smile that reached her eyes and turned them into slits, her nose scrunching up right in the middle. He returned the exact smile back to her.

* * *

"Jace."

He groaned, and the sound of his blaring alarm finally registered in his mind. He moved to the right to hide his face in the pillow that he was hugging with both arms.

"Jace."

But no alarm clock had ever worked as well as Clarissa Morgenstern.

"Jace!"

Jace moved when he heard that tone. The one that was forceful and edging on annoyed. The one that held the hidden words _get your ass up before I drag you out of bed._

"Yuh!" he murmured back. He reached over to his nightstand to turn off his alarm and laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. "Five minutes."

Clary didn't reply. She never did, but Jace could always hear the gurgling of their coffee machine when she walked past it on the way back to her room.

In exactly five minutes, Jace rolled out of bed, got dressed, and walked out of his room. He pulled their mugs from the mug stand—both black, one with a large C and the other with a J. It was ridiculous of them to buy, but that was exactly the reason why they purchased them.

He poured the coffee into their cups, grabbed the coffee creamer from the fridge, and poured it in evenly. Clary stepped out of her room, holding her purse, hair pulled up into a bun, wearing an oversized sweater and jeans that were ripped at the knees. Clary got lucky when this usual outfit became a style.

She sat down on the bar stool across from Jace as he pushed her coffee mug towards her. The two stayed silent. They didn't talk on mornings like these—ones where they had to wake up at 4AM—because they would have to talk for the rest of the day during production meetings and table reads.

Once Clary sat in the passenger seat of Jace's car, she pulled her knees up and hugged them, resting her chin on her knees. Jace looked over at her when he started his car, and the CD that she let him borrow started to play. She smirked when she heard the music, and then grinned when Jace changed it to the track that she loved.

She closed her eyes and laid the right side of her face on her knees. "You are a rare gem," she whispered.

Jace shook his head a little as he pulled out of his parking spot, turned the music up, and drove out of the parking garage.

* * *

**A/N: **I love writing these characters so far, so I hope you're enjoying their banter &amp; relationships just as much as I have fun writing them.

If anyone was interested in reading the partner story mentioned in the last chapter, the first chapter of** Brooklyn Carter** is posted!

I'd love to hear what you guys think of this so far,** p****lease leave some reviews &amp; feedback **:)

* * *

**Thank you to anyone has taken the time to review, favorite, alert and just read this story!**

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, Mollytamale, obliterating the oblivion, firequeen8569, brightdarknessx, and lindsayhonaker**! So much love to you guys. Sincerely. Thank you for the reviews, for telling me you're liking the concept so far &amp; just being encouraging reviews. Thaank you.

This is a late addition because I was rushing earlier but shout out to **rippingbutterflywings** for beta'ing this chapter so quickly and just being the MVP for this story. Thaank you for everything &amp; helping me fangirl to get the writing going!


	4. Best Girl Friend

**A/N:** Helloo! I've been wrapped up in DLF because I had to write a couple important chapters that I needed to be completely engulfed in, so here I am, after almost a month with a new Words chapter :) Another A/N &amp; thank you's at the bottom.

* * *

Clary held her hands together while Simon placed an iced coffee in front of her. She clamped her hands together and looked up at him, telling him that he was "Saint Simon."

He rolled his eyes but smiled as he sat in the seat beside her.

"None for me?" Jace asked, leaning over her.

Simon shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"Hmph. Some friendship this has become." Simon opened his mouth to say something in return, but Jace turned his head, making him shut his mouth promptly and lean back while Clary patted his shoulder, telling him, "You're a lovely friend. Sometimes."

When Jace stood up, a couple of people looked in the direction of one of the edge seats of the long conference room table where he'd been sitting. A member of the wardrobe department looked first—Kaelie Whitewillow. But she barely took her eyes off Jace in the first place. "Ladies and gents!" Jace sang, and Clary side-eyed him from the seat next to him. Jace looked back at her, unamused.

Sitting on the other side of him was Isabelle, who covered her mouth to hide her smile. He looked back up at everyone else and ignored the rude girls he considered his friends.

"Okay, so, what did everyone think of the episode? Any questions about the script? Clary and I can always address those questions privately, though, if you guys wanted." Jace looked around.

"I have a question," Kaelie said from where she sat.

"You're wardrobe," Magnus Bane, a production manager, and fellow team member, pointed out. "Unless the script needs to be dressed up, you're good to go, Kaelie." He raised an eyebrow at her. Jace pursed his lips together while she glared across the table at Magnus, whose elbow was on the table, his hand holding up his head.

"Right." Jace looked around, ignoring the tension and Kaelie's awful public flirting. "Anything else?"

"I just can't picture Simon here beating someone up." Sebastian Verlac, who played a _douchey classmate_—a description that was literally listed for his character—snickered while Simon looked at him with a blank face.

"That's cute—" Clary spoke up, and was interrupted.

"As cute as you, Fray," Sebastian replied quickly, winking at her from the other end of the table.

She blinked. "I was thinking that Simon should be beating your character up."

"What?" Sebastian shifted in his seat. "I thought it was for a mafia fight."

"Change of plans." Clary shrugged. Jace looked down at her, silent speaking to her, telling her _I know you hate him, but stop. _She turned her head to Sebastian and smiled sweetly. "Just kidding. We'd never write you in for a fight. It's 'douchey classmate' for you the whole way through, Seb."

"Oh." Sebastian nodded, confused as to whether he'd been insulted, because Clary was smiling even though her words were harsh. "Right. Good."

Clary turned her attention back to Jace, who nodded awkwardly now. "Welp. I guess that's it for today. We have a day or—" Jace stopped himself when the director put up two fingers. "Two days to look over the script and rehearse, but we'll be filming on Thursday."

The team nodded and began saying their goodbyes. Jace plopped down, and Isabelle leaned towards him. "I really want to set up Magnus with my brother."

"Which one?"

She looked at him, confused. "Max is like 15, Jace."

"And Alec is gay. Right." He gave a nod. "Do it. Why not? Magnus is fabulous. Alec sounds fabulous. That's what it's all about for the gay men."

"I'm just thinking of a plan to get them in the same room." She leaned back and tapped her nose. "Also, it was such a mistake for you to start hooking up with Kaelie. Her hotness definitely doesn't cancel out her craziness."

"She's just crazy about one thing."

She rolled her eyes. "Please don't say that one thing is you."

"No. For the D!" he exclaimed with an open-mouthed grin, and stared at Isabelle.

"Am I supposed to be amused or laughing or something? Because I'm not." She crossed her arms. Jace sighed and dropped his grin, leaning back into his seat.

"You okay with the script?" He changed the subject, looking over his shoulder at Simon and Clary, who were looking over the script together behind him.

Isabelle nodded, looking at nothing in particular. "I love anything you and Clary write."

"Or is it because you finally get some_ friendly, romantic_ scenes with Simon?" Jace wiggled his eyebrows, then let out a cough after Isabelle reached out to slap him directly in the middle of his chest.

"I mean it, Wayland. Stop saying shit like that," Isabelle whispered angrily as she leaned in towards him.

Jace put his hands up. "Sorry. Last time. I just think it's cute."

"_What_ is cute?"

"That you like _that_ guy." Jace pointed behind him with his thumb, while Isabelle looked at Simon, who was adjusting his glasses but still leaned in as close as possible to his script so he could read it. Jace looked over at Simon and shook his head when he looked forward. "If you have kids, they're probably going to look nerdy. Beautiful, but nerdy."

"Well, I think you and Clary's babies would just be beautiful." Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "Without the nerdy."

Jace groaned and leaned back into his seat. He crossed his arms. "I literally had this conversation with Simon at the bar yesterday. Can't you two coordinate to have this conversation with me?"

"I just can't believe you and Clary aren't in love, or haven't been in love." The two were speaking in hushed whispers.

"Stop trying to sully our relationship!" Jace leaned forward, and Isabelle tried not to laugh.

"Sully? I'm not _sullying_ anything. It's the truth, Jace. Everyone is just waiting for you one of you to see it."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Well, that's gonna be until the end of time, because me and Clary do not feel that way towards one another."

"Fine."

"Fine."

The two sat in silence until Isabelle giggled and muttered, "Sullying."

* * *

Jace peeked over his computer at Clary. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that she was gnawing on the top of her pen, a nervous habit of hers, while she stared off at the open door behind him.

"What?" he asked, and she snapped out of it, shifting her gaze towards him. "What is it?"

"What's what?"

"What are you thinking about?" Jace pushed his feet off the ground so his swivel chair would move and he could see her without having to elongate his neck like a giraffe.

She took the pen from her mouth and tapped the other side of it against their desk. It was a room for the two of them, which included two desks that were pushed together so their computers were across from each other. There was a dry erase board that was littered with notes from Isabelle, Simon, and, well, Kaelie. Clary demanded that Kaelie's notes stay on Jace's side. There were papers neatly stacked on Jace's side, while Clary had three different color coordinated piles on hers. There was a corkboard above the middle of their desks with pictures of both them and their families thumbtacked on it. There were, of course, the speakers that they shared, and a CD player right beside them.

Clary leaned forward and Jace did the same, waiting for her reply.

"How does Carter know?" He didn't answer, knowing she would explain herself soon after. "I mean, how would Carter know about Katie's feelings? This show is in Carter's point of view, yeah? I know we have a few scenes from Katie's POV, but it never shows what her feelings are—just kind of what she's doing. So, how would he know? How do we build up to him finding out?"

Jace leaned back into his seat, which folded back beneath him. "Well, I thought we were going to make it obvious that she liked him back."

"But how?" Clary squinted a little as she thought. "Through how she cares about him? They're best friends; she could just be being a best friend to him. They're each other's _only_ best friends. We can't rely on just showing that they care."

"Ahh." Jace nodded. "Hm." He tapped his nose with his pen once. "Well, what gets people to see how they really feel about one another?"

"Absence, death, jealousy."

"Cross off jealousy. Katie doesn't care about that shit."

"Agreed."

The two were silent while music played in the background, not registering in their minds as they got lost in the minds of their characters.

"Death," Clary whispered. Jace looked up at her, alarmed. "I mean, possible death. Not Carter actually dying."

He pointed at her with the pen. "It does fit the lifestyle."

"Hm. I'll keep thinking about it." He knew that just meant she would be out of it in the car and for most of the night, until she knew exactly how she was going to execute the situation. "I'll just bring my notebook home. You writing more?"

"Nope." He turned his screen to show her that he was playing a computer game. He grinned while she rolled her eyes. "I was waiting for you to come back to life. Come on, let's go home. I'm starving."

"You cooking?"

"Nope." Jace stood up. "You?"

"Nope."

His raised his fist in the air. "Take out for the fourth time this month, then!"

Clary grabbed her purse. "Our parents would be so proud." Jace let her walk out the door before turning off the light and shutting their door.

* * *

Clary plopped on the couch beside Jace after ending a phone call she took in her room.

"How is Russia?" Clary reached for her plate while Jace asked.

"Cold," she responded, and didn't add anything else to it. That was what she usually did, and Jace didn't mind—until now.

"And?"

"And?" She looked at him. "He just said it was cold, and that he regretted thinking leather jackets were appropriate jackets, and that the Russians laughed at him."

"That's it? No 'I miss you'?"

Clary almost spit out her vegetable lo mein. "What?" She turned completely to her left to face him. "What kind of question is that?"

"I don't know. I may not be your best girl friend—"

"You ARE my best _girl_ friend." Clary snickered.

"I just wanted to see if he does. You know, miss you." Jace stuffed a spoonful full of food into his mouth so he would stop talking. He gulped it down. "Dylan seems different."

"Dylan _is_ different," Clary agreed quietly. "I don't know. Can we really get involved in this if we barely see each other?"

Jace shrugged. "If it's right." He looked at her. "It's more involved than you ever have been before."

Clary stared at her food, rearranging it on her plate. Jace stood up and grabbed Clary's glass so he could get them more juice.

"Jace." He looked back at her. "I like that you like that I like Dylan." She pursed her lips together.

He gave a nod. "I'll still fuck him up if he messes you up."

She let out a laugh, leaning her head back. "I'll do the same to Kaelie if she messes you up."

"Please, Clary. I can't even laugh. That's just not funny at all."

* * *

**A/N: **If anybody reads DLF, I know this is such a different pace from how that story is, but it's kind of refreshing to write in a way. At least to me, haha. I hope you liked this chapter! With every chapter I write, I fall in love with characters in this story in their own way, so I hope you guys love them too.

**I'd love to know what you guys think, please leave some reviews &amp; feedback!**

* * *

**Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited &amp; alerted this story!**

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, DeathCabForMari, brightdarknessx, lindsayhonaker, Guest, booksandmusicaremyescape, kaychucks and LuckyAsLockhart**! Absolutely loved your reviews. I virtually hug all of you for them.

Shout out to** rippingbutterflywings** for not only being an amazing beta, but a wonderful friend, and this story's number one fan. Thaank you, CH Clary!


	5. I Hate Clary

**A/N:** Helloo! It's been more than a month since I've updated this story, so I'll get right to the chapter. I posted the _Brooklyn Carter_ episode two weeks ago. It airs before this chapter if anybody was following along with the BC partnership, so you guys can check that out if you'd like :)

The song used in this chapter is **Blank Space by T Swift** and it's filled with friendship goodness.

* * *

_Nice to meet you, where you been?_

_I could show you incredible things_

Jace looked forward after looking over his shoulder at Clary and Isabelle singing along to Blank Space with wooden spoons. They said they were going to cook pasta for them to eat—something about the Carter's mom making food that made them want to bring out 'the inner Italian grandmother' in them. But when Clary started to play Taylor Swift's 1989 album for their cooking music, it had gone downhill from there and the only thing they had prepared was the pot on the stove with water, ready to boil—only the stove wasn't even on yet.

He sighed. "I'm gonna have to cook this dinner, I know it."

Simon smirked and glanced at them for a moment, and Isabelle winked at him at when Taylor Swift sang _I can make the bad guys good for a weekend_. She laughed immediately after while they sang out the chorus, dancing around the kitchen counter.

"If someone would've told me that I was gonna be friends with girls like Isabelle and Clary, everyone I knew would've laughed at me. Myself included." Jace chuckled.

Jace displayed a hand towards the girls. "Well, look at your best friends now."

"Yup. Best friends."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "Do I hear a bit of yearning in your voice? A bit of pining?"

Simon looked at him with narrowed eyes, and he shook his head when Jace fell back in laughter. He turned to see the two girls look over at what they could be laughing at. They shrugged and Jace sat up, getting himself together. He ignored that Clary was literally slamming her fists against the counter, ready to act out the next verse.

_Screaming, crying, perfect storms_

_I can make all the tables turn_

_Rose garden filled with thorns_

_Keep you second guessing like_

_"Oh my God, who is she?"_

_I get drunk on jealousy_

_But you'll come back each time you leave_

_'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream_

He looked over at her to see the two spinning in circles. He rolled his eyes.

"Who is it?"

"Nope. I'm not telling you." Simon crossed his arms.

Jace feigned offense. "And why not? I'm your best friend too. One of you. A brethren."

"I feel like Clary may be more of my _brethren_ than you, and you're close to both of them."

"You like both of them? That's awfully selfish." Jace leaned into the couch, glaring at the girls to see that they were done with the song, but started it over. The stove still wasn't on, and no water was starting to boil.

"No, because you're close to both of them." Simon turned forward and reached for his phone on the coffee table in front of him.

"So are you."

Simon smiled. "Exactly, so you'll never know which I pine for."

"So you do pine for one of them?" Simon dropped his smile and side-eyed Jace, unamused. "You know Clary is a taken woman. I mean, if it is her."

"I do know. They both aren't up for the taking. As if I could take them. As if they wouldn't punch me for thinking they were to be taken. As if—"

Jace put a hand out. "I get it." He looked over to the kitchen and groaned when his stomach growled. "Clarissa! I am _so_ hungry. We could've picked up food, but noo." He stood up, and Clary jumped when he began to aggressively walk towards them. She ran to the stove, turning the knob to 'high' when she got there. She nervously grinned at Jace and pushed him back towards the couch.

* * *

Jace got up from the couch when someone knocked on the door. He put his plate of spaghetti and garlic bread on the table while the other three stared at the screen, watching one of Clary's favorite movies, Four Brothers. Of course.

Someone knocked one more time and he yelled with a full mouth, "Coming!"

He opened the door and Dylan immediately was high-step running past him towards Simon, who was looking up at him, laughing.

Dylan continued to high-step in place.

"Put your plate down, I don't want to make a mess."

Simon did as he said, and put his plate on the coffee table. He was rewarded by Dylan jumping on him, messing up his hair. "You _killed_ me. Am I dying right now? Because I feel like I am." Dylan grabbed his face. "I love you, Simon Lewis."

Simon, in response, looked at Clary. "I'm scared," he said, his face pressed between Dylan's hands.

Jace shut the door and Dylan finally looked at Clary and Jace, who was standing behind her on the couch. The two were chuckling.

"It was amazing. Holy _shit_, it was amazing!" He was practically yelling. "I mean, with finding out about Ms. Amoretto! And then Katie. Ugh, love Katie." He made a move to jump onto Isabelle but she placed her plate firmly on his lap so he wouldn't. "And then creating that moment between their little Italian mafia family, and then THAT." Dylan finally got up, and plopped on the couch beside Clary. He looked at her and then up at Jace. "Good job, you guys. Good fucking job."

The room was silent for a minute and Jace finally asked, "So you liked it?"

Dylan gave a laugh.

"I thought you had a meeting?" Clary mentioned while getting up to make a plate for him.

"I did." Dylan gave a nod. "They were not amused with me at first."

"But?" Isabelle leaned towards him. "Did you get in trouble?"

"No." He shook his head. "Because they ended up joining me. I think it's officially _Brooklyn Carter_ night on Monday nights at the office, so I probably won't have a meeting on these days."

Jace laughed and sat beside Isabelle.

"We need to have celebratory drinks." Dylan clapped his hands together once for effect.

Isabelle shrugged. "I'm down."

"Me too." Simon raised his hand.

The three looked at Jace expectantly. "I can't." He shrugged. "Kaelie is coming over."

He was met with a chorus of _whaaat _and _whyyy_ and _ewww._

"I thought you were going to stop hanging out with her?" Isabelle asked, biting into her garlic bread. She pointed it at him and crumbs flew. Her eyes got wide and she looked over to see if Clary saw. Clary was turned away and Isabelle promptly cleaned it up while Jace shook his head at her. Isabelle was the most vocal that he should stop hooking up with Kaelie. Jace appreciated Isabelle. He valued her opinion. He valued their friendship. But he wasn't going to stop fulfilling his needs for a friend. Unless it was Clary. But Clary never really stopped him from dating anyone. "I thought you said you would find someone better for you. Someone less annoying, someone less...Kaelie."

Jace looked up, thinking. "Nope. Don't think I ever said that."

"Silly me. It's just me thinking of a sensible route to go with for your love life," she replied, scrunching her nose.

"I don't know Kaelie. So I'm going to just say that I hope you enjoy your love life, Jace." Dylan looked around and they all stared at him.

"I wouldn't call what Jace and Kaelie have a love life, per se." Simon looked at Dylan and the two turned to see Jace raising his eyebrows.

"Oh," Dylan whispered. He looked over his shoulder at Clary. "You coming out with us, Clarissa?"

She nodded. "If Kaelie is here, I rather not be home so that's a _definite_ yes."

* * *

"You're lame," Isabelle told Jace when she was the last one to leave, and close the door. Jace sat at the kitchen counter looking through his phone, seriously considering just blowing off Kaelie and going out with his friends. But it was a planned date—if he could even call it that.

Jace shrugged. Who was he kidding? It was mostly because he hadn't hooked up with Kaelie, or anyone, in a while because he had been too busy with the show. He figured the only day that week that he didn't have to wake up at five in the morning, or go in at all the next day, was going to be the best time to hang out with her.

As if the decision was made for him, there was a knock on the door. He put his phone down, opened it and had the air temporarily knocked out of him when she jumped and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Kaelie, are you alright? Did something happen—" She interrupted him by kissing him forcefully.

It was as if she was trying to recreate a fast-paced hookup scene in a movie.

Maybe he _should_ have blown her off. With her hands roaming all up in his hair, and kissing him like she was trying to steal his air to leave him there to die, he wasn't feeling too excited for their hookup. He felt himself dreading it. But she wasn't catching on when he barely kissed her back, and he didn't wrap his arms around her as she just latched onto him like a Koala. All she did was continue to kiss him and push him towards his room. She kicked the door closed behind her.

* * *

Jace's eyes got wide when the door slammed and he heard the chatter of his friends. _Finally. My saviors._ Kaelie rolled her eyes and fell back against the bed after literally staring into his eyes for the past ten minutes.

"Oh. Clarissa must be home," Jace said, trying to hide his excitement for her to leave. He wasn't doing a great job at it. He hopped off the bed and searched for his pants on the floor.

Kaelie groaned. "I hate her."

Jace froze. He waited a moment for her to take it back, but she never did. "What?" he asked lowly.

Kaelie leaned up on her elbows. "I just hate her. She's always interrupting us. Why don't you get your own place?"

"I've lived with Clary for the past six years," Jace stated.

"I know! It's like, don't you hate it? Don't you just wanna get away from her?" She reached for her shirt at the end of the bed.

Jace blinked. He couldn't grasp that she wasn't understanding that he didn't agree with her.

"You hate Clary?" he asked out loud. It was as if he needed more of a confirmation. Maybe he didn't hear her right.

"I mean, yeah. She's such a bitch. And I just...I don't know. Everything about her annoys me. She's always around you." Kaelie stared up at him. "Jace?"

"Get out," he said with finality, as he picked up her leggings and placed it beside her calmly.

"_What_?"

"I said, get out. Before I pick you up and set you down at the front door." Jace pulled the shirt over his head. "_Now_, Kaelie. Get out. Whatever this madness was is done and I rather you not flirt with me during meetings. Seriously, do you not like your job? You could lose it over shit like that."

She stared at him and he resisted the urge to yell at her. _Don't raise your voice at women. Don't throw clothes at women. Resist the urge to throw a pillow in her face_.

"Is this because I said 'I hate Clary'?"

And just like that, Jace couldn't control his emotions. He threw his arms up. "YES! Who hates Clary?" His voice was raised and he could hear the talking outside come to a sudden stop. "Who tells Clary's _best friend_ that they hate her? It's like—" Jace put his hands out. "I can't. I can't talk to the unreasonable. Just get out."

Kaelie blinked and then jumped up on the bed. "Are YOU fucking serious?!" She was violently putting her clothes on. Jace winced. It looked like it hurt. "How do you expect no one to believe that you guys aren't something when you act like this? It's like you're the blindest boy in all the lands. Open your eyes, Jace!" She jumped down from the bed. "UGH!" She slipped on her shoes, threw a glare over her shoulder and opened the door, not stopping to even look at his friends. He stood there, still processing what she said. When the front door slammed, he could see Isabelle, Clary, Simon and Dylan peeking into his room by kneeling on the top of their couch.

* * *

**A/N:** It may have been through screaming, but Kaelie definitely spoke the words that we were all thinking. How did you guys like the chapter? With the Simon yearning, or with the whole thing with Kaelie?

I'd love to know what you guys are thinking so far. Please review &amp; leave some feedback!

**Thaaank you to anyone who had reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story! Thank you to anyone who read this story. You are lovely, lovely individuals :) **

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, brightdarknessx, ****insolitasum****, ****Emily1515****, ****lindsayhonaker****, ****Guest,** and** cfire27**! Thank you for the reviews, my dears. I absolutely love them all, and I just like seeing that _you_ guys can see this outside view of Jace's feelings. If that even makes sense, haha. I'll be replying to your reviews by today :)

A shout out to **MLC** for being the best MLC in all the lands.


	6. Maybe You Should

**A/N: **Sorry about the late update, you guys! I was planning to put this up yesterday but didn't have the opportunity to, so here it is. I hope you guys like it!

The song used in this chapter doesn't have the lyrics included. It's just the song that's playing in the background during a Clary and Jace conversation. The song is **Northern Wind by City and Colour**.

* * *

After Kaelie's outburst, which was followed by Jace staring at his friends, Clary finally asked if he was okay. He nodded and then slowly walked out of his bedroom door. He expressed that he was just confused, and they started to sit on the couch. Clary waved him over, and he followed. They turned the TV on and watched a late night movie on FX in silence, until Dylan said he had leave. He may have had work at noon, but, considering it was four in the morning, he still needed some sleep.

After Clary said goodbye to him outside of their apartment door, she came back in, placed a hand on Isabelle's arm, and got her to wake up. Before Clary led Isabelle to her room, she turned to look at Jace. She glanced at Simon, then gave him a nod. Jace knew she was telling him to get a blanket for him, and he went off to do so. When he came back out of his room, Clary was shutting the door to hers. He handed her the blanket and, with the flick of her wrists, the blanket flew out and she put it over Simon. He barely moved when it settled down on him, and he continued to snore.

The two made their way to the kitchen area, and Clary put the teapot onto the stove, turning the heat up. While she leaned against the counter, the two didn't say a word. Jace didn't know if it was because they were tired, because they didn't know exactly what to say about what happened. He figured Clary was waiting for her tea before she even asked any questions. Even though he knew he had no answers for them.

Clary slid Jace's mug towards him as he sat on a stool, and she continued to stand. He stared at their kitchen island, and she sipped cautiously from her 'C' mug.

"I don't know what happened," Jace blurted. "Before you ask what that was all about." Clary stared at him. "Just a 'Krazy Kaelie' moment. You know, Krazy. With a K."

Clary pursed her lips together. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "With a K."

Jace gave a laugh, and the unexplainable tension in the air lifted.

"First, why were you even yelling at her?"

Jace thought for a moment and shrugged. "She said she hated you."

Clary was quiet for a moment as she blew air to cool down her tea. She sipped. "Why would that make you yell at her?"

Jace raised an eyebrow. "Why is she telling me that she hates my best friend?"

Clary chose to shrug now. "It wasn't really a secret that Kaelie and I don't get along. Your women and I never do."

"My _women_ are you and my mother," Jace clarified.

"Well, these women, then."

"Yeah, but none of them ever said they hate you." Jace finally started to drink his tea. Like a normal person, he waited for it to cool down a little so he wasn't drinking something scalding hot. Clary never did that. With beverage or food. "And it just made me so mad." He put his cup down. "It was hard not to throw a pillow at her. I was reminding myself not to."

"That's very kind of you not to smack her with a pillow."

"Thank you."

The two were met with silence again.

"Well, thank you," Clary whispered. "For choosing to stand up for me." Jace gave a nod. He didn't need to say that she was welcome, or that she would do the same for him. He already knew. "Although you lost your hook-up. Isn't that going to lose you a couple months of sex?"

Jace scoffed. "Please, Clary. That's ridiculous."

Clary rolled her eyes. She took her mug in her two hands and began to walk towards her room. "Goodnight, Jace."

"Good morning is a more fitting phrase." She looked over at the window to see the sun beginning to rise. She looked at him.

"Goodnight and good morning, Jace."

He inclined his head. "Goodnight and good morning, Clarissa." She did her classic 'slight smile and eye-roll' thing she had been doing to him since they met and closed her door.

Jace looked back down at the counter and into his tea when he was alone. He stared for a couple seconds as a thought in the back of his mind poked relentlessly at him. _W__hy did he get so mad?_

He stood up and made his way to the couch. He set his mug down and sat at the end of the couch that Simon was sleeping on. His mind felt like it was buzzing, and he couldn't get himself to back to his room. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.

"Can you stop that?"

Jace jumped a little at the sound of Simon's voice. Simon reached to take off his glasses, and put them on the side table.

"Stop existing?"

Simon opened one eye to look at him. "No, shaking the whole damn apartment with your restless leg syndrome."

Jace looked down. He didn't even notice. He forced himself to stop, and it took some concentration to do it.

"You're thinking about it."

Jace side-eyed him. "Weren't you sleeping?" Simon closed his eyes. "Fine. Thinking about what?"

Simon didn't open his eyes this time when he said, "Your feelings for Clarissa."

Jace wanted to reach over and slap him on the stomach. "That is definitely not what I'm thinking about."

"If it's not that, it's leading up to it."

Jace gritted his teeth and reached over. He slammed his left hand onto Simon's stomach, and the boy groaned, his hands gripping his torso. "Stop it. Stop, everyone. Just stop."

After Simon recovered, with his hands up and protecting himself, he spoke up again. "Look, I know I've asked you several times. Isabelle, too. Hell, I'm sure everyone else has mentioned it at least once."

"And I say the same thing every time."

"I know, but have you even considered it?"

"Yes."

"Have you really?"

Jace froze.

"That's what I thought," Simon whispered.

"I haven't," Jace admitted. "I just always thought we are what we are, and that people didn't _get_ that. So they just tried to categorize us as _together_."

Simon was quiet for a couple minutes. "That's true. I guess nobody really knows what relationship you have but you two. It just looks like that from the outside, but maybe nobody gets it."

Jace leaned back into the seat. His glanced at his tea, and he knew it would probably cold by now. "So will you drop it?"

"Does anybody you two grew up with ask?" That was clearly a no. He wasn't going to drop it. "Like your parents or her parents?"

"Not mine..." Jace crossed his arms. "They just talk about Clary like she'll always be there. You know, in the future."

"Do hers?"

"We don't usually discuss awkwardness like that."

"Hm."

Jace sat up now, exasperated. "What, Simon? What? Just spit it out."

Simon moved to sit up a little. His eyes were wide open now. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to push it." Jace pulled his gaze away and looked forward at the TV.

He broke the silence after a while. He didn't even know if Simon was still awake. "I've just never questioned it."

Simon stirred at the other end of the couch when he responded with, "Maybe you should."

After a few seconds, he could hear Simon snoring. He was about to ask what he meant, and why he should question it, but Jace couldn't form the words. He could feel it in his gut that he wasn't ready to hear to what Simon would have to say.

* * *

Jace groaned when his mind forced him to wake up. His body was physically tired from his lack of sleep, and he _wanted_ to continue sleeping. But the aroma of bacon coming from the kitchen wasn't letting his mind have that luxury. He rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes. He looked over at his clock, which read 11, and sighed. He raised an eyebrow at the lack of chatter from his friends, but only music playing in the kitchen. Confused, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and grabbed pajama pants and a shirt.

He opened the door, peeking into the kitchen, and saw Clary sitting there, plates of food surrounding her. There was a plate of pancakes, a plate of bacon, a plate of scrambled eggs, and one last plate of toasted white bread. She was staring at her laptop screen, swiping with her right middle finger and holding a piece of bacon between her left index finger and thumb.

She looked up when he closed his door.

"Did you make this all for yourself?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't pretend that it isn't a possibility." He made his way towards the cupboard for a mug. He took Clary's 'Central Perk' cup and poured coffee from the pot into it.

He sat in front of Clary, and she looked at the food. She pushed a plate towards him. "This isn't all for me. Not today, at least." Jace smiled to himself. "I made it for all of us, but our asshole friends left before eating." She pushed all the plates of food towards him, and he paused. "Have at it, Christopher."

He chose to ignore the use of his middle name. He didn't have the energy to come up with something in return.

"What time did you sleep?" she asked, lowering her music a little. She pushed her laptop to the side to look at him.

He shrugged. "At six? Seven, maybe."

"Ugh, Jace."

"I would've slept more if you didn't waft the smell of pancakes and the bacon into my room," he replied, chewing on his food. He knew he had to probably finish most of this, and he outwardly sighed at the thought. He gave a nod towards her as she was reaching for her book. "What are you doing today?" She retracted her hand.

"I'm supposed to meet Dylan after his meeting. I'll leave at around three," she told him. "You going to be okay here?"

Jace glared. "Yes, Mom. I'll be fine."

Clary leaned forward on her elbows. "I'm serious. I know you hate being home alone."

"You're home alone all the time."

"Yeah, but I actually like it."

Jace looked back down at his food and continued to eat. "I'll be okay. Seriously. I plan on getting more sleep."

Clary nodded and settled back onto the stool. "Mmkay," she murmured. She sat there, staring at her mug.

He rolled his eyes. "Go ahead, read. And turn the music up. I like this song."

She grinned and followed his instructions. In response to this, he smirked to himself as the thought that kept him up into the early morning became cemented: he wasn't going to ignore what he and Clary could be, but he wasn't going to go search for it.

He looked up at the sight before him—Clary, hunched over the counter as she leaned her head on her propped up left hand. The way the fingers in her right hand sprawled across the page to keep her book open and flat. The breakfast food she cooked for them.. The way they sat comfortably.

This was what Jace knew. This was the one thing in his life that never changed since they met. And searching for the answer to how he felt last night wasn't enough of a reason to risk what was most important to him.

* * *

**A/N: **I really, really adore this Jace. I know Jace may not be realizing his possible feelings for Clary, but at least he isn't disregarding the idea! I hope you guys are understanding where he's coming from. I do think it's a huge step for him. I loved the relationships displayed in this chapter, between Simon/Jace and Clary/Jace, so I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say.

**Let me know what you think! Reviews &amp; feedback, please** :)

* * *

Thank you to everyone to reviews, favorites, alerts and read this story! I appreciate the support you guys give, and will not be able to say enough thank you's to let you know just how much.

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings** for beta'ing this chapter on a plane, and having to hide her Jace love. Thank you for your support dear CH Clary. Your asshole aunt has love for ya.

Shout out to **MLC** for being kind enough to finish the foods that I can not.

Shout out to **Emily1515****, ****Page1of365****, ****PinkLemonadeChocolate****, ****brightdarknessx****, ****insolitasum****, r****ippingbutterflywings****, **and** cfire27**! Thank you guys for taking the time to review. You guys get me motivated to keep on writing on. Heart emoji's for you all.

**cfire27:** Thank you for your review! I hope you liked this chapter :)


	7. Get Your Shit Together, Wayland

**A/N:** Hii, I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I plan on getting a couple of these Words chapters written in advance so I can get to update this more. Not much to say, other than I hope you like this chapter! **The main AN &amp; thank you's at the end.**

* * *

Jace rolled his eyes. For what felt like hours, but was probably only twenty minutes or so, Clary would take a shirt out of his closet, hold out the shirt in front of her, _examine_ it, and then hand it over to him to try on if she deemed it worthy. He never thought he would see the day that Clary was going to force him to do this. Clary didn't think much of his clothes—barely changed her own style, which honestly didn't need to be altered—until now. And it was all because she thought something was wrong with him.

The day after Jace ended things with Kaelie, they went to work. They wrote while the cast had wardrobe fittings, and, when they left, Kaelie gave him the middle finger and they went about their day. While he, Simon, Isabelle, and Clary sat on the couch, she suggested they go out so Jace could peruse the city for company. Isabelle was immediately down to go, and Simon rolled his eyes at the way Clary phrased it. Jace went just because he didn't wanna be left at home for the second night in a row.

But then he noticed every single day that Clary was forcing them, or just him if Simon and Isabelle were busy, to go out. Whether it was to the bar, or just to sit around, they would be somewhere. Jace never missed being home at the apartment so much.

"Okay, last one." Clary held a shirt out to him.

"You said the last last one was the last one," he muttered, sitting on the edge of his bed. He didn't bother to pull his shirt back on after she insisted he try on twelve different shirts—and counting, apparently.

She glared and threw the shirt in his face. "Try it."

Jace groaned and tried not to yell at the top of the lungs as he aggressively put on the shirt. He stared at her, the shirt not even pulled all the way down, wrinkled, with his hair covering his face. "Good enough?"

Clary paused, and he could see her considering him in-between the strands of his hair. "Off."

"Gaaahh. Clarissa!" Jace pulled the shirt off with one hand in a swift motion. "Stop, please."

She wasn't facing him when she said, "Hmm. Last one, I promise."

"No. I will never wear shirts again."

"Then maybe we can stop. That would definitely get you another girl."

Jace stood up and turned her to face him by her shoulders. "Why are you doing this? Why have you _been_ doing this?"

She tried to feign innocence. "I'm just trying to help you get a new hook-up buddy."

"I don't need help. Look at me." He stared down at her, and she made a face.

"If your looks don't get them, your humbleness will."

"I don't have that," Jace responded quickly. She rolled her eyes, and he let go of her shoulders. "Why are you pimping me out? Seriously." She didn't answer as she sat down on his bed, looking up at him. "First, I don't need the help. Second, I want to stay home. I miss our couch. I hate going out if we don't need to. And five out of the six days we have, we didn't need to go out!" She was still silent. "Spill."

"Okay!" She shot up and began to pace. "It's just...Dylan. He thought something—about what Kaelie said. He's been thinking that maybe she was right."

Jace wasn't sure if it showed on his face, but, without control, his heart stopped. "Right about what?"

Clary began to gnaw on her bottom lip. "I'm not sure, exactly."

"He didn't specify?"

"I didn't really give him the chance to say Kaelie was right in any way shape or form." Clary stopped her pacing and looked at him. "I mean, what was I supposed to say?"

Jace gulped. "I don't know? That it would be absurd."

"I did!"

Jace looked down. He hated that it stung him slightly. He sighed. "Okay. So what are you trying to accomplish? If you get to find a girl for me to sleep with, then he won't second-guess our friendship?"

Clary pursed her lips and then put her hands over her face. "Ugh, I'm awful. I don't know! I don't know what I was thinking. I don't want you to sleep with half of LA. I really don't." She fell face first into the middle of his bed. "I'm sorry."

Jace reached for his shirt, tugging when her legs were on top of the edge of it. He pulled harder, and she barely nudged. He pulled it on. "Can we stop trying on my whole wardrobe?"

She rolled over to face the ceiling. "Yes. I'm sorry. I don't even know what I was looking for."

He sat at the edge of the bed, keeping his eyes on her face. "You really like this boy, huh?" She glanced at him. "You never cared to prove to other boys that we're just friends."

She nodded. "I do. I like him a lot, and I hate it."

Jace laughed. "I've heard that's how it is."

"It sucks. I don't recommend it."

Jace stared at his covers. "Look, I'll talk to Dylan."

Clary sat up quickly, and he wondered if she got dizzy. "No, don't. Please don't. That's awkward and just...not needed."

"But—"

"No." Clary shook her head vigorously. "He's just gonna have to trust me. Trust _us_. He's your friend, too."

Jace scrunched his nose. "I don't know if he considers me one now."

Clary rolled off the bed. "Then he isn't the guy we thought he was." She gave a determined nod. "Right?"

Jace smiled a little. "Right."

She looked at the pile of shirts she created. "I'm sorry again. Don't fix that. I'll do it later." She walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Jace asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Gonna get food for tonight."

Jace watched her grab her keys and purse. It was becoming a tradition for Simon and Isabelle to come over on Mondays to watch the new episode together.

"I'll get next week," he yelled out, and she put a hand out to say bye before closing the door. Jace shook his head slightly, staring at the front door. "Get your shit together, Wayland."

* * *

Jace kept his eyes on the basket in the middle of the counter. He could hear his friends talking behind him, but he could only focus on the realization that _this_ felt new. He never felt like he was losing Clary—even if it was slightly—to another person. He liked Dylan. Sure, yeah. But not enough that he was willing to be at odds with his best friend. And not enough that felt okay with her feeling like she had to choose, or be in the middle or something. That must've been why she was doing it. That's what it felt like, at least.

It felt like, after the past week, she'd accommodate to both him and Dylan. And he didn't know if it was because he was selfish with Clary and her friendship, but it made him feel unsettled. He wondered if she felt the same. If this was as new a feeling that he felt it was.

"_What_ is going on?"

Jace jumped when Isabelle sat beside him. He didn't even hear her coming over to him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Well, you're staring at a bowl of glass fruit." Isabelle pointed at it. "And, if it was real fruit, I'd guess you were hungry—even though there's dips and salsa right in front of you." She pointed at the bowl in front of Jace. "But it's not real fruit, so…"

Jace continued to stare. "Hm."

"And the vibe in this abode is _weird._" She dipped a chip into the salsa. "Spill."

Jace looked over his shoulder. Clary and Simon were occupied with a YouTube video. Probably something with a cute dog. So he turned to Isabelle, leaning in to whisper. "Did Clary tell you about Dylan? Like, that he thinks—"

"That Kaelie was right?" Isabelle whispered right back, and Jace still looked around, paranoid. Isabelle's eyes got wide. "Are you admitting something right now?"

Jace pulled back and said, too loudly, "What? NO."

He and Isabelle looked at the couch as Simon and Clary turned around slowly.

"Everything okay?" Clary asked, hesitant.

"Yeah. I just asked Jace if he cries thinking about Katie and Brooklyn. He got defensive." Isabelle shrugged. "I must be right."

Clary and Simon nodded and turned back to their video.

Isabelle winked at him. "You're welcome."

Jace stared at her. "I'm not thankful." He leaned in again. "Well, did she tell you?"

Isabelle nodded, eating another chip. "Yeah."

"What did she say?"

"What you always do." She glanced at Clary. "She's more stubborn than you. I asked her if there could possibly be any truth in Dylan's fear, but she freaked out, and then listed reasons why you guys would only be best friends until you were in adult diapers."

"Ew."

"Yeah, the one you love is weird," Isabelle muttered. She looked up slowly to see Jace glaring.

"Stop it."

"Okay." She put her hands up. "I'm sorry. But why are you staring at fruit that isn't real because of it?"

"I don't know," Jace mumbled. "It's just—this is new. She's never liked anyone enough before to make her want me to…"

"Have sex with randoms?"

"Yes!" Jace put his hands down on the counter. "I mean, you'd think I like it, but I really don't."

"Because you love—" Isabelle stopped herself and grinned. "Sorry. It's just a reflex now."

Jace looked over his shoulder at Clary, who threw her head back, laughing. "I just don't want to lose her. Not even a little."

"You could never." Jace looked at Isabelle, who was looking at Clary too. "Never. You understand?" He gave a nod. "Good. Now stop talking to inanimate objects and watch cute things with us."

* * *

Jace plopped beside Simon on the couch when Isabelle and Clary went to the kitchen.

He leaned into Simon and whispered, "It's Isabelle."

"What is Isabelle?" Simon asked, looking back at him. Jace backed away when the two were too close for comfort.

"Who you like. It's her, not Clary." Jace smiled obnoxiously.

He watched as Simon's eyes got slowly bigger. "How the hell did you figure it out? Am I that obvious?"

Jace gave a laugh. "You aren't, actually. You're pretty good at hiding it." Jace leaned back into the sofa. "But you don't call girls you like _brethren_."

"Son of a bitch," Simon muttered under his breath.

Jace pointed. "Don't you dare speak of my mother. She will come here and kick your ass."

Simon put his hands up. "It's an expression! Fuck, don't tell your mother. Did it really sound like I was—"

"Calm down." Jace held his right hand out. "It was a joke. I know you're calling the universe a bitch."

Simon groaned. "Well. Tell me."

He raised an eyebrow in return. "Tell you what?"

"Who does Isabelle like?"

Jace laughed, and when Simon didn't follow his lead, he stopped. "Wait. You think I'm actually gonna tell you classified information?"

Simon shrugged. "You know my secret. Tell me if I'm wasting my life pining or should just retract my feelings back a couple of weeks...months."

Jace shook his head. "I would never. I'm trustworthy. You didn't _tell_ me. I figured your shit out."

Simon groaned. "Seriously?"

"As serious as Drax from _Guardians of The Galaxy_." Simon stared at him. "Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast." He waited for Simon to react, and then Jace felt distraught when he didn't. He faced Simon after his friend had no reaction to directly quoting the movie. "Have you not watched that movie? Because we need to—"

"I've watched it. I just can't believe you're serious right now."

Jace leaned towards him. "Whatever is meant to happen _will_ happen."

Simon blinked. "I hate you."

Jace's jaw dropped. "You're so rude," he mumbled, sitting forward. "Now I'm never gonna tell you."

"Why are you two pouting?" Clary asked, bringing the chips and salsa over to the coffee table.

"I know. You two look like children." Isabelle followed her, holding the sodas.

The four of them looked over at the door when someone knocked, and, instantly, Jace and Clary looked at each other.

"I'll get it," Clary announced, walking quickly towards the door.

Jace jumped over the back of the couch and stood in front of her. "Let me get it."

"Jace, don't say anything about—"

"I won't." He put his hand up. "I promise." He started walking backwards. "I just wanna make sure he knows we're friends."

Clary bit her bottom lip nervously, holding her hands together. She nodded and Jace turned around, taking a few steps before opening the door.

Dylan's eyebrows went up in surprise. He obviously wasn't expecting him to be there. His eyes looked around Jace, and he figured Clary was probably waving.

"Hi," Dylan greeted. Jace hated how awkward they suddenly were. He hated how things changed so fast.

"Hi!" Jace responded, over-exaggerating. "No work?"

"There was," Dylan replied, obviously trying to make an effort too. "But we rushed through it, because—"

"_Brooklyn Carter_ Mondays," Jace finished. The two stood there, and, or some reason, to lessen awkwardness, Jace reached out and hugged him. With wide eyes, Jace waited while he crushed Dylan's arms. Then, finally, Dylan hugged him back. "We missed you."

Jace wanted to punch himself in the face. He let go and leaned back. "I mean, it wasn't anything like being in Russia. It was just filming in upstate California, but I've missed you too, Jace." Dylan smiled warmly back at him, and Jace knew that his intentions became successful.

"Good. I like hearing that you did." And, with that, Jace turned around and walked back towards the living room. Clary held the side of her right fists against her mouth, and her eyes watched him pass by. Isabelle had her face in a pillow, and Simon's eyes were still wide.

Jace grinned at him, and Simon shook his head, probably confused by Jace's whole being.

And then he turned around to see Dylan close the door, walk towards Clary, wrap his arms around her, and pick her up. She hid her face in his neck while he grinned with his eyes closed. And, as much as Jace could try to convince himself that he wanted Clary happy, and seeing that she obviously was, he couldn't push away the immediate sting of seeing the way she clung to him.

And, with the painful realization, his smile fell.

* * *

**A/N:** I know :( if you guys are hurting because of Jace, I want to tell you that I am too. I've questioned if I have the heart to write this story because I love Jace and it's just hard to write him confused or upset.

I wanted to note that this will not be an easy ride for Jace. This is just the beginning of what he'll be going through, and I just wanna give a fair warning to those who are eager to see what happens with him and Clary.

Also, as a reminder, **this story**

** will be in Jace's POV only. So we'll only be seeing what he sees or knows.**

What did you guys think? Of Jace finding out that Dylan has some insecurities about the Clace friendship, about Simon liking Isabelle, or that _ending_. Anything about it. **Pleease let me know what you guys think! Leave some reviews &amp; feedback** :)

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story!**

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, brightdarknessx, Page1of365, cfire27, alfierchrds, Emily1515, **and** shadowhunter-tiger-guardian**! I can't tell you guys how much I love reading your reviews. Thank youu for reading along and taking the time to review what you think of the story so far. I hope you guys will this painful Jace journey along with me, lol. I'll be replying to you guys today!

Shout out to** rippingbutterflywings**! Thank you being a lovely beta, and for just suffering through this pain with me, lol. And for being on point with me. Here's to our love for Words Jace. Love, WS Clary/Asshole Aunt/Big Sister.

**cfire27:** Thank you for your review, my dear! I hope you liked this update.


	8. It Was Her

**A/N:** Helloo, if anybody wants to catch the episode of _Brooklyn Carter_ that plays before (during?) this chapter, it was posted up yesterday, check it out if you'd like!

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed** (and is suffering along with me because of Jace) **and for the favorites/alerts. And for just reading this. Thank youu** :)

* * *

Jace kept his eyes on the television while the episode played. He looked whoever spoke. He even caught glances from Clary, giving her a reassuring nod whenever she did so. He laughed when people made jokes. He even impressed himself—who knew he was capable of pulling off such utter and complete bullshit.

He never really needed to in the past. But seeing Clary with Dylan like _that_ hit him hard. And he found himself unable to recover. They were relatively quiet during the episode. No usual whooping or talking during the episode. He wasn't sure if it was because things may have changed in the dynamic of their group of five, or because the episode was too intense to be talking through.

Either way, he appreciated it. So much so that, when the episode ended, he panicked at the thought of having to talk when he couldn't bear making conversation.

He stood up quickly, and they all looked up at him.

He clapped his hands together once and held them there, hoping nobody would notice the way he was holding them together. "Who wants to go out?"

Clary looked at him like he was insane. "You _just _told me this morning that you were tired of going out." She patted the couch. "That you wanted to be right here."

Jace shrugged. "Changed my mind. The episode got me all riled up to go drink."

Dylan looked at the TV, and then back at Jace. "But it was depressing as fuck."

Jace pointed. "Exactly. Need to shake off those _Brooklyn Carter_ feelings, you know?" They stared at him, confusion written all over their faces—except Isabelle. _Damn_, Jace thought. _She must have noticed something_. "So, anyone?"

Isabelle stood up. "I'm down."

Jace clapped once again. "Yes! Simon? Clarissa? Dylan?"

Clary shook her head. "I'm out. I'm tired of being out, just like you said you were this morning."

Jace shrugged in response to this.

"I think I'm out too," Dylan spoke. "Still tired from the lack of sleep this week while filming."

Jace looked away. He definitely didn't wanna be home when they were going to be there together.

He looked at Simon, who frowned. "I can't. I have something early in the morning. A meeting."

Isabelle and Jace looked at each other, and he nodded. "It's okay," he told Simon. "I'll just change, and then we'll—"

"Yeah," Isabelle finished for him.

So Jace walked into his room, closed the door, walked to the edge of his bed, and fell down, face first. He reached for a pillow, hugging it—more like strangling, if he was going to be honest—and then planted his face in it. He had the urge to scream, but he didn't want to risk them hearing it outside, even if it was muffled, so he just continue to borderline rip his pillow apart. He sighed when he was done, and then rolled over to look at the ceiling. He didn't turn any lights on, so he only had the yellow of the streetlight outside his window seeping through his open blinds.

He wanted someone to blame, but knew he couldn't blame this on anyone else. He wanted to blame Isabelle and Simon for giving him so much shit about Clary. For making him re-think things about their friendship. But he couldn't, because people had done that since he met her. He wanted to blame Dylan. But it would be ridiculous for him to blame the guy for entering Clary's life. He wanted to blame Clary—but he didn't even want to know why. He wanted to blame _someone_, because then maybe he could focus on any other thought. Any thought that wasn't the one that clouded his mind—that Clary was important to him. And all the signs were pointing at the fact that what he felt was stronger than friendship.

He slammed his fists against the bed and got back up. He grabbed a shirt in the pile that Clary created—even though he didn't even need to change—and made his way outside.

* * *

He could hear Isabelle's heels following him down the steps. They didn't say a word once they left the apartment, and he walked in front of her, instead of beside her, which he knew was rude, since she was the only one agreeing to go out with him. But he could see in her eyes that she had something to say the moment she closed the door. So he bolted. Naturally.

"You're going to have to talk to me eventually," she said, and it echoed in the stairwell.

Jace thought that Isabelle Lightwood must've been a mind reader. Maybe that was how she got so many roles. Giving the people the lines they wanted.

"Or I can go home and just leave you to drink at the bar by yourself while you _cry_ to strangers." He could hear how annoyed she was at how he was treating her when she was doing him a favor.

But he kept walking. And then he stopped when they reached the sidewalk, looking up to make sure their apartment window wasn't open.

"Thank you for coming with me," he told her formally. "I love you, okay? I needed to leave and—"

"I saw your face." She crossed her arms, but he could see the pain in her expression. He hated that look of sympathy from anybody, so he began walking towards the bar by their place. He could hear her heels stomping after him. "We're really not going to talk about this?"

"No," he said through clenched teeth.

"Jace!" He could hear the disbelief in her voice. But he had to keep walking. He felt like he was going to explode. Like he would just blow up and disappear in the middle of LA. Maybe that would've been a good thing at this point. He froze when Isabelle screamed, "I saw your face!"

He spun around and, in a moment of no control, he yelled, "And you saw hers!"

Isabelle froze where she stood, and he was breathing hard. He would've expected Isabelle to punch him in the face for raising his voice at her, but she just stared at him with that _look_. That look that he hated. That look that showed how much she sympathized with him. That look that made him realize that he was in trouble—that he got himself into a situation that would hurt.

"Isabelle," Jace whispered. "What...what are you asking of me? What do you want me to tell you?"

She hugged herself from the cold, and from the honesty of the question. "I don't know, Jace. I don't want you lying to yourself."

Jace shook his head and closed his eyes as he inclined his head. "It's the only thing I can do."

"What do you mean? You can't—"

"Can't what?" Jace opened his eyes, and he sounded like he was pleading with her. "Am I supposed to tell Clary that, for the first time in our lives, I can't ignore that this _isn't_ a normal friendship?"

"Have you felt it before?"

Jace looked across the street. "Not this intensely."

"Jace, that means you need to tell—"

"Clary is happy." Jace looked up, towards their apartment window, and at the sky. "You can see that, right?" It took her a moment to nod. "And I like Dylan. Don't you?" She nodded again. "And Clary has never liked anyone like this." Isabelle opened her mouth, but he interrupted her. "Ignoring it is the best thing I can do right now, Izzy." He shook his head, his eyes pleading with her. "You don't understand." He looked down at his shoes. "The moment I accept this, there is no going back." He looked up, and it was the saddest he had ever seen her. "Okay?"

Isabelle gulped. "Okay."

Jace took a step back. "So please, Isabelle. Just help me."

Isabelle stared at him for a moment, and then began walking past him. "Where are we going? You wanna stay at my place tonight? So you can get really _really _drunk."

Jace laughed a little. "Yes, that would be good."

"Let's just take my car, then." She took out her car remote, and they followed the beep. Jace ran around the car as Isabelle opened the driver door. "Jace…" He looked up over the top of the car at her. "Do you? I mean, do you...you know."

"It's probably unhealthy how much I need her," Jace admitted. "And it's unhealthy on how I require her to feel balanced." He shook his head. "But I can't let that love that I've always had for her mean something more."

"What happens if it does, Jace?"

Jace dragged his hands down his face. He took a deep breath, as the weight of Isabelle's question felt like it was literally dragging him into the ground. "Then nothing would ever be the same."

He opened his eyes to look at Isabelle. She shook her head. "Katie and Carter don't have shit on you guys."

"Thanks," Jace muttered.

"Now, let's go get you trashed."

She finally unlocked the doors, and Jace opened the one his side, saying, "Yes. Thank you."

* * *

Jace opened his eyes and looked around. Isabelle's living room looked just like her. It was a little messy, dark, and accented with dark purple. He pushed off the couch and looked over at the kitchen area to see Isabelle there, on her laptop. She looked around it and smiled.

"Getting trashed didn't work out so well, did it?"

Jace shook his head and got off the couch. He made his way to the kitchen table and sat down across from her.

He did not get trashed. He drank—but he couldn't get _trashed_. His mind was racing too much, and there was no amount of alcohol that could make him forget. And it didn't help that being out without Clary only made him feel the lack of her presence more. But he couldn't go home. So he stayed at Isabelle's, and she offered him a chick flick and ice cream—an offer which he took. Only with the promise that she wouldn't tell anybody.

Isabelle slid a coffee towards him, and he gave a nod to say thank you.

"I'm not okay," he mumbled after sipping it.

Isabelle closed her laptop and leaned on her elbows. "I know you're not."

"I could blame you. Or Simon. For forcing these awful realizations on me."

Isabelle frowned. "Sorry."

He shook his head. "No, it wasn't only you guys. It was Dylan, too, I guess. His presence. His relationship with Clary. It's...serious. It's real."

"Well, at least you're being honest with yourself now."

Jace glared. "Yeah, well, look where it got me. Can't a man be oblivious and emotionless just like the others?"

Isabelle pursed her lips. "I don't think _they _have a Clary."

Jace's forehead hit her table. "Ugh, Isabelle. You couldn't just let me have it."

"I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I really am. I'm sorry you're in this position."

"The position of possibly loving the most important person in my life and having that ruin our entire relationship. Oh, and don't forget the fact that she's falling in love with someone else. That position?"

Isabelle gave a nod. "Yes. That one."

Jace lifted his head and stared off, his chin keeping his head up. "I'm fucking scared, Isabelle. What if I can't shake this off? What happens, you know? Am I gonna go down that road of Joey and Rachel? You know. It's like…" Jace sighed. "This isn't TV though." He glanced at her, and she nodded. "I'm so fucked. I cannot even fathom the amount of how fucked I am."

She leaned down, copying his stance. He smiled at her attempt to make him smile. "Okay, how can we reverse this?"

"You're actually gonna help me lie to myself?"

"Yeah. I mean, I half-caused this with Simon. So, yeah. Tell me."

Jace's gaze dropped down. "I don't even know."

Isabelle was silent for a moment. "Have you fully accepted this realization?"

"I'm really trying not to."

"So we can do something about it." She sat up. "Let's just...go back, okay?"

"Okay," Jace answered, sitting up too. He sipped his coffee. "Now tell me about Simon." She opened her mouth to protest, but he closed his eyes. "Girl. You owe me some uncomfortable conversation. Now, go."

* * *

Jace took a deep breath. He could do this. Now that he was honest with himself and Isabelle, without much of a choice, he had help to control this. He turned the doorknob and stepped in. He peaked from behind their littler foyer, and Clary's head popped up from behind the couch. She jumped over it and ran to him.

"Are you okay? I tried calling, but I think your phone died."

"Yeah, sorry." He ran a hand through his hair. He felt like he looked like a mess, and he didn't want her to see him looking like one. Because he definitely felt like one. "It did die."

Then, unexpectedly, she shoved him. "Isabelle doesn't have a phone? Ugh, I thought you got into a fight or something. You were so…" She turned around now. "I don't know. It was like you were going out to be reckless. No idea why."

She sat back on the couch, and he knew that she was irritated with him. He could've called her, or texted her. But he didn't. Because he wanted to see if he could last a _night_ without her. He couldn't. _How pathetic_, Jace thought while sitting down beside her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to freak you out." He kept his eyes on her face. She was refusing to make eye contact, but, when she did, her eyes were soft.

"Did I make it awkward between you two?" She turned to face him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You know that I didn't."

"No." _Yes_.

"I mean, he took it back. He told me he didn't know what he was thinking," Clary whispered, staring at her fidgeting hands. "I shouldn't have told you. Or pimped you out. What did I think I was doing? Really."

Jace put a hand over hers so she would stop. She looked up. "Clary, stop apologizing."

"But I made it—"

"You didn't." He shook his head at her, and she stared. "Okay, for a second there, but it passed." She sighed, looking back down. "Don't worry about me and Dylan."

"But you're my best friend."

"And he's your boyfriend."

"Yeah, but—" She stopped herself short. "I guess I never had any boyfriend remotely mean anything to me. Enough that I cared what he thought of us. I never gave a shit about what they thought, because they didn't have shit on us."

Jace blinked. He wanted to jump out of the window. "Are you happy?"

She gave a laugh. "What?"

"Are you happy?" He was still gripping her hands. "I'm serious, Clary."

She looked up at him. "Well, yeah. And scared." She took a deep breath. "I've never cared this much, you know?"

He did know.

"But I'd never let someone get between us. You know that, right? Even if he was the most paranoid bastard, that wouldn't affect us."

Jace laughed. "I know." He finally let go of her hands. "I just want you to be happy. That's it. If you're happy, I am." _Lies_.

"If you ever found a Dylan, I'd let her be as paranoid as she wants. She could hate me, and I'd still be nice to her."

"I wouldn't allow that."

"Apparently," Clary mumbled, facing forward. "But I would. The moment you finally find someone to love, I'll support you in your decisions and everything. You know that, don't you?"

Jace stared at her face. He knew that it would be impossible for her to do that. It was her, and Jace couldn't imagine it ever being anyone else. "Yeah. I know."

* * *

**A/N:** I know, so sorry for the Jace pain :( I really do love/hate writing these chapters. I love Jace, but I just hate hurting him this way. I do wanna hear what you guys think though, _I loved the feedback from the last chapter, so please keep them comingg_! **Reviews &amp; feedback, please :)**

* * *

Shout out to **rippingbutterflywings, Immaduckhatingpansycake, cfire27, Aubrey Kelly, Emily1515, brightdarknessx, Feeling Tension, **and** PinkLemonadeChocolate**! Thank you, thank you, thank you for being wonderful and letting me know what you guys thought. I loved it very much. This is a late update, so I'll be replying to reviews tomorrow :)

Shout out to** rippingbutterflywings **for beta'ing this chapter and just your support and everything. You are eternally lovely and you know you have my support always, MS Clary. Love from WS Clary.

**Feeling Tension:** This story is definitely worthy of the tension name :( so much that it's hard to write. You're not alone, I absolutely meant it when I said I considered if I could write this story, haha. Thank you so much for catching up with this story and leaving this review, I hope you're enjoying it. I love that you enjoy the little worlds I've created for these characters :)


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